Landikotal (Pak), May 21
At least 16 persons were killed in northwest Pakistan today after a bomb attack claimed by a militant group hit a truck carrying fuel supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan, the latest attack in an upsurge in violence since Osama bin Laden was killed.

It took place near the Torkham border crossing in the Khyber region, the main route for moving supplies to NATO and American forces in Afghanistan. “The tanker was on fire because of a blast late in the night. There was another blast early in the morning in the same tanker and 16 persons who gathered near it to collect oil were killed,” a senior local administration official in Khyber said. Police officials said the first blast was caused by a bomb.

In another attack in the same region, a bomb struck 16 NATO fuel trucks late on Friday, setting them on fire. No one was hurt.

Abdullah Azzam Brigade, a militant group affiliated with Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for both attacks on the NATO trucks.

“It is our jihad against Americans. We want to stop supplies for NATO from our territory,” Abu Musa’ab, a spokesman for the group, told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Residents of Landikotal stood looking at 15 wooden coffins holding the victims. Nearby a truck that was hit by the bomb was burned out and gutted. — Reuters 

Islamabad, May 21
India and Pakistan exchanged "non-papers" during talks on the Sir Creek issue that ended today, in a bid to find an amicable settlement to the decades (boundary dispute) and agreed to meet again.

The non-papers, diplomatic parlance for negotiating texts informally circulated by countries to facilitate discussions without making any commitment to the contents, were exchanged as the two countries held their first round of talks on the Sir Creek issue in four years.

"Both sides exchanged non-papers in order to take their discussions forward, with a view to finding an amicable settlement of the issue. They agreed to meet again at a mutually convenient date," said a joint statement issued at the end of the two-day parleys.

The talks, held in a "friendly and cordial atmosphere", focused on the India-Pakistan land boundary in the Sir Creek area and the delimitation of the international maritime boundary between the two countries, the statement said.

Though the statement made no mention to a joint survey of the 96-km estuary conducted in early 2007, it is believed the two sides exchanged maps outlining their respective positions.

Pakistani sources claimed Additional Defence Secretary Rear Admiral Shah Sohail Masood, who led his country's side at the talks, told the Indian side that the joint survey should not be considered the basis for an agreement. The Indian side at the talks was led by Surveyor General of India S Subba Rao. The Indian delegation also called on Defence Secretary Lt Gen Syed Athar Ali.

During the last round of talks on the Sir Creek issue four years ago, the two countries made significant progress in resolving the dispute over the estuary in the Rann of Kutch separating India's Gujarat state from Pakistan's Sindh province. — PTI

Washington, May 21
Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Barack Obama against chasing what he called a Middle East peace "based on illusions" as he lectured the US president amid a widening rift in US-Israeli ties.

In a dramatic Oval Office appearance, after 90 minutes of talks yesterday, Prime Minister Netanyahu emphatically vowed Israel would never return to its 1967 borders and laid down a set of non-negotiable conditions for peace talks.

The exchange, which left hopes for Obama's peace drive more remote than ever, came a day after the US president called on Israel to accept a return to territorial lines in place before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, with mutual land swaps with Palestinians to frame a secure peace.

But Netanyahu seized on the notion that he was being asked to return solely to Israel's 1967 footprint, which he said was nine miles wide in places and half the size of the "Beltway" highway surrounding Washington.

"While Israel is prepared to make generous compromises for peace, it cannot go back to the 1967 lines-because these lines are indefensible," Netanyahu said, looking Obama squarely in the eye.

Israelis argue that returning to the former border configuration would leave Israeli population centers vulnerable and mean uprooting hundreds of thousands of settlers from homes in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Netanyahu did not however mention the second part of Obama's stipulation-namely that land swaps between Israel and the Palestinians, would change those 1967 lines to ensure two secure, contiguous states.

The White House insisted that it had never said that Israel should return to a narrow definition of its 1967 territorial lines. — AFP 

Kabul, May 21
Six medical students were killed and 23 others wounded in a Taliban suicide attack at Afghanistan’s main military hospital in Kabul today, the defence ministry said.

The blast took place in a tent used as a dining room by students at the city centre hospital, one of the biggest and best-equipped in Afghanistan.

The hospital is not used by NATO forces, though it is thought that foreign medics are frequently stationed there to train their Afghan counterparts. “There was a suicide attack at a tent used as a dining facility by medical students inside the hospital,” said defence ministry spokesman Gen Mohammad Zahir Azimi.

Responsibility for the blast was claimed by the Taliban, whose spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said two attackers had entered the heavily-secured hospital.

Mohammad Zaher, head of Kabul police’s criminal investigation department, said searches were still going on at the hospital for another possible attacker.

Eyewitness Mohammad Hakim, who has a cart selling fruit nearby, described what had happened. “It was a big explosion, I fell to the ground,” he said. “The police arrived late at the scene, half an hour after the explosion took place.”

The roads to the hospital were blocked and Afghan security forces including the spy agency’s quick reaction forces cordoned off the facility, while police and soldiers were also on the scene. — AFP